How to make Wit & Wisdom's Maryland crab soup

In this new multimedia series, Cooking with The Sun, Zack Mills, executive chef of Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, teaches how to make his popular Maryland crab soup dish. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun video)

In this new multimedia series, Cooking with The Sun, Zack Mills, executive chef of Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, teaches how to make his popular Maryland crab soup dish. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun video)

Zack Mills, the executive chef of Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, says his parents often come into the restaurant for date nights.

And when his mom orders his popular Maryland crab soup, he gets a little nervous. After all, it’s based on her recipe.

“It was something that my mother did when I was growing up, so I’ve slightly adapted the recipe and we decided to kind of tweak it to make it more restaurant style,” Mills said. “The roots of it are still kind of the soup that I grew up with.”

Mills is from Davidsonville, near Annapolis, and says food and cooking were a big part of his upbringing. After graduating culinary school in 2007, he worked for Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. Bourbon is part of the Michael Mina restaurant group, which also operates Wit & Wisdom.

About two years ago, he became Wit & Wisdom’s executive chef and was able to include some of his favorite recipes on the menu -- like his Maryland crab soup.

And the soup is among their more popular dishes in summer, Mills said.